If our kids always behave
and our boss is always pleased
and our home is always orderly
and our bodies always feel good
and we are patient and kind and thoughtful and happy and loving, others shrug because they’re capable of being that way too. On the other hand, if
we have a splitting headache,
the kids are screaming,
the phone is ringing,
the supper is burning,
yet we are still patient, kind, thoughtful, happy, and loving, the world sits up and takes notice. The world knows that kind of behavior is not natural. It’s supernatural. And others see Jesus revealed in us.
I was once sitting in an audience when the speaker asked, “What do you think God expects of you?” I mentally ticked off a list of things I thought God expected of me: obedience, faithfulness, holiness, love, service. To my astonishment, the speaker went on to say, “All God ever expects of you is failure!” I wanted to raise my hand and say, “I can do that! I can live up to the expectations of God! I know I can fail!” But then the speaker added, “However, He has given you the Holy Spirit so that you need never fail.” Right! Without Christ I can do nothing, but in Him I can do all things!
The difference between strength and weakness, righteousness and wickedness, success and failure, is Jesus – the Holy Spirit – in me.
Without the Holy Spirit to clarify the truth to our minds and confirm Who Jesus is in our hearts, we would “see” Jesus as just . . .
a man,
or a holy man,
or a prophet,
or a symbolic figure!
But the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to see and our minds to know and our hearts to receive that Jesus is more than just a man . . . or a prophet . . . or a teacher . . . or a revolutionary . . . or an icon . . . or a symbol. Jesus is . . .
the Messiah of Israel,
the Son of God,
the Savior of the world,
the reigning King . . .
God Himself in the flesh!
Did you know that you are God’s special loved one? Why would He love you so? Maybe it’s because when you abide in Christ you are so saturated in Jesus that when God looks at you, He sees His own precious Son and envelops you in His love for Jesus’ sake!
As you and I develop and grow in this love relationship with God, abiding with Him through meaningful prayer and Bible reading, getting to know Him on a deeper level as we live out what we say we believe, He fills us with Himself. And “God is love” (1 John 4:16, NKJV). As you and I are filled with God, we will be filled with His love, not only for Himself, but for others – which includes our spouses or the incompatible people with whom we are struggling. God has promised to pour out “his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.”
Feb 28, 2013
Since the first day that you set your
mind to obtain understanding and to
humble yourself before your God,
your words were heard, and I have come
in response to them. But the prince of the
Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days…
Now I have come… Daniel 10:12-14
Sometimes I seem to get “stuck in prayer.” I pray and pray. I claim Scripture, holding God to His Word. I re-examine the request to make sure it’s in line with God’s will. And still… nothing. It’s as though something is blocking the answer. Resisting it. What I need is a Breakthrough!
This past month, God has encouraged me through a passage He seemed to highlight in my personal devotions from 2 Samuel 23:13-16. In this portion of Scripture, David was hiding from the enemy in the Cave of Adullam when he expressed his longing, Oh, that someone would get me a drink of water from the well near the gate of Bethlehem. Bethlehem was off-limits because it was behind the enemy lines. Philistines were camped all over that entire area. However, three of David’s mighty men heard him voice his desire, risked their lives to break through the enemy lines, got the water, and brought it back to him.
As I was thinking through David’s situation, I continued my devotional reading and came across Psalm145:19, which promises: He will fulfill the desire of those who fear Him; He will also hear their cry and will save them. (NASB) God seemed to whisper in my heart that the Father, His Son, and the Holy Spirit were the three Mighty Ones who had heard my desire for a fresh outpouring of Living Water. They had not just risked life, but the Son had sacrificed His life in order to break through the enemy lines to make the Water available and accessible, and would pour it out on those for whom I was praying.
So I am praising God for His power to Breakthrough!
